The adoption of children against the wishes of their first parents is a highly contested area of policy and social work practice in England and Wales (Doughty, 2015; Featherstone et. al., 2018b; Ward and Smeeton, 2017). In the years since 2010, successive governments have introduced reforms which aim to reduce court timescales and increase the numbers of looked-after children being adopted (Conservative Party, 2019; Department for Education, 2015b). Such reforms have come at a time when entitlements to welfare benefits and services to support families to retain care of their children have been dramatically curtailed (Bywaters et. al., 2020; Hastings et. al., 2015; Featherstone et. al., 2014a; 2018; Lonne et. al., 2016; Morriss, 2018). In a context concerned with prioritising the welfare of individual children (s 1.1, Children Act, 1989), there is evidence that the complex needs of first mothers can be overlooked in favour of a “child rescue” approach to intervention (Crittendon, 2016; Kirton, 2019:4).
First mothers who experience the removal and adoption of their children have been identified as a population of women living with multiple, complex and mutually reinforcing difficulties (Broadhurst and Mason, 2013; Featherstone et. al. 2014a; Neale and Lopez, 2017; Roberts et. al., 2017), and there is evidence that mothers’ voices can be marginalised within the current “happy ever after” narrative surrounding adoption policy (Gupta and Featherstone, 2020:166). This thesis aims to explore 19 first mothers’ experiences of the loss of a child to adoption, including investigation of mothers’ utilisation of artefacts such as toys and blankets associated with now-adopted children in managing their grief. Respondents’ situated accounts are privileged as providing key insights into the experience of marginalised motherhood within the contemporary context.
